Saturday, December 29, 2012

We are finally home from our week long trip to Iowa. We had such a fun time with all of our friends & family... it can be so hard living far away. We will have our little family Christmas celebration tomorrow with the gifts that Santa brought while we were away ...I'm just not ready for the holidays to be over yet! ;)

We kicked off Christmas morning with some waffles & then dove right in to gifts! Harper was a huge fan of the bows & ribbons... the sound of ripping paper though? Not so much. It terrified her every time someone would tear open a present. Who is this kid?

Christmas morning is so magical with babies! There is nothing more fun than watching them crawl around, plowing through piles of wrapping paper with bows stuck on their heads.
I was obviously the happiest momma in the world watching her eyes light up at all of her new toys... and then watching them all go immediately into her mouth. She loved her B. Keys that Santa brought her!

We rocked our matching footie pajamas, which turned out to be a pretty good investment since we froze our asses off in the snowy, midwest weather! I was excited to have a white Christmas, but was quickly missing the Georgia weather.

I think it is safe to say that her favorite toy so far was the Zany Zoo activity cube! It is sturdy enough that she can stand up at it, walk around it & still has lots of parts & pieces to entertain her. She was having a blast with all of the fun, Christmas commotion swirling around her!

She also had the best bed head ever for Christmas morning.

After gifts, we had another Christmas with the rest of Brandon's family. I finally got to dress Harper in the cute tights that I bought for her a million years ago... it was everything I hoped it would be & more!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Can't wait to share more pictures from our trip, Harper's first time playing in the snow & all the other festive shenanigans that have taken place over the last week! :)

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

After a looooooong 15 hour car ride, we arrived in Iowa to visit family. My best tip for long roadtrips with 10 month old babies? Don't do it. It's a shitshow. There's not enough Christmas music or holiday cheer to make this trip enjoyable.

I think by now, you all know that Harper Eve was named after my love of Eve's of holidays. So this Christmas Eve was even more special than ever.

So special that daddy decided to give her ice cream for the first time! It has been his life long dream to be the first person to feed ice cream to someone (I know, he is a strange cat) so this was a big moment for us all! What better place than at great grandma's house on Christmas Eve?

Despite the puzzled look, she loved it & reached for the spoon for more! A sweet tooth, just like mom! :)

Our favorite Christmas Eve tradition takes place at the home of the most beautiful Christmas tree.

Where Harper got lots of kisses from her future husband, little Mr. Talan.

My best friend from high school & her beautiful family have us over for cookies & cocktails every Christmas Eve. It is even more fun now with our little babes! I was in Heaven with all of the festive fun happening... wish I could have just bottled it all up & kept it forever!

Then Harper realized that Santa was coming in the morning & lost her marbles.

Hope you all had a wonderful & festive Christmas Eve!! Be back soon with Christmas day pictures & more!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

I have only been thinking about Harper's First Christmas outfit since the day I found out that I was pregnant. And now here we are, a week away, and I have no idea what she is going to wear. Part of me wants her to wear a fancy dress... but part of me wants her to be comfy and festive and covered in bows! It probably goes without saying, but whatever I put her in will end up covered in drool & food anyway.

Here is my collection of favorite Christmas Day Outfits... for your little lady or gent!

I am in LOVE with those big bow ballet flats. Our baby gap had them in black at one time but I couldn't get Harper's size. If anyone comes across an abundance of them in a 12 month size in your local store... send me an email! :) We may need to work something out!

For the next few days, we will be buried deep in wrapping paper & Christmas baked goods! If you follow me on Instagram (@jlgarvin) you may have seen this picture and my comment about how much I suck at wrapping gifts. I have visions in my mind about how I'd like the gifts to look, but I always end up with crooked wrapping, too much tape & a half assed bow that I tied too tight or too loose. I actually DO love wrapping gifts though... my favorite materials include kraft paper, bakers twine & washi tape! :) You can also create faux chalkboard gift tags with regular black card stock.

Aside from my failed gift wrapping attempts, I still have yet to get a perfect picture of Harpie Doodle in front of the Christmas tree.